Bluegrass Martial Arts

Kenpo Karate at Bluegrass Martial Arts

"I come to
you with only Karate, empty hands, I have no weapons, but should I be forced to
defend myself, my principles or my honor, should it be a matter of life or
death, of right or wrong; then here are my weapons, Karate, my empty
hands."

-Ed Parker

Kenpo Karate is a self-defense system characterized by fast
explosions of multiple strikes delivered to multiple targets. Kenpo Karate does
not so much teach a set of standard responses to a set of limited scenarios,
but rather teaches a set of principles that can be applied in any situation.

A simple translation of Kenpo Karate
would be "Law of the Fist and Empty Hand". Kenpo Karate is a comprehensive
system of modern self-defense. Relying on fast combination of strikes and occasionally some Jujutsu
restraints to control an attacker, Kenpo Karate is a deliberate and scientific
take on modern self-defense, offering a wide variety of effective
answers to differing self-defense scenarios.

Kenpo Karate at Bluegrass Martial Arts is an adjusted version of American and Traditional Kenpo
systems. Both Schools share a significant amount of identical information, and still retain parts unique to just the one school or the other. They really are two parts of a larger whole so we observe the full curriculum of both schools, Parker and Tracy, without the redundancy.

Kenpo as a system is said to not "change", but it is imperative that it be refined. It is thus changed, but only in as much as it can be always improved upon. Kenpo as we train it at Bluegrass Martial Arts strives only toward such improvements and only as necessary. In most instances any alteration from the Traditional or American schools is for instructional coherency and progression of movements and principles as they build on each other.

Kenpo Karate at Bluegrass Martial Arts is a system of self defense from both Kenpo traditions. It is arranged by a Christian who is sympathetic to priorities a Christian looks for when choosing a teacher in any field. This system is suited especially for protecting the Sanctity of Life where even the offender is concerned. There is a greater emphasis placed on
learning to restrain an opponent, and some of the targets are adjusted
to be appropriate for a family friendly setting.

More to the point, Kenpo as practiced at Bluegrass Martial Arts, does not come with many of the commonly practiced Buddhist influenced traditions such as meditation, bowing to everything and everyone, or exercises promoting the use of "chi"/"ki" as opposed to the general laws of physics.

For further information on the curriculum, see the "Belts" tab. It will outline the entire system from Yellow Belt to 3rd Degree Black Belt.

Our class time efforts stay to the task of developing the self defense skills, but there is an emphasis placed on using time outside of training to cultivate the intellect, the scholar as well. We are both scholars as well as warriors.

This system of martial art has no eastern religious truth claims
or faith practices. It is a complete system of self-defense that is coherent with the Christian worldview.